Monday, December 26, 2016

Fake News Goes Boom

According to the Huffington Post, an outlet called awdnews.com quoted a former Israeli government official, Moshe Yaalon, who resigned in May, but does not quote the current defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman.

Less than a day later, reports CNN, the Israeli Ministry of Defense responded on Twitter, saying, “The statement attributed to (former Defense Minister) Yaalon (regarding) Pakistan was never said. Reports referred to by the Pakistani Def Min are entirely false.”

So-called “fake news” has become a hot-button issue since the surprise general election of Donald Trump. Some have gone so far as to attirbute President-elect Donald Trump’s win to the proliferation of “fake news.” Social media giant Facebook is involved in controversial internal discussions over efforts to combat the spread of fake news on social media. This is the first time the issue has had a tone serious enough to suggest potential military aggression between nuclear-capable countries.